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Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Sassnitz - Simrishamn

The night in the Sassnitz harbour was quite restless. The marina is large enough for a swell buildup inside. Despite the night poorly slept, it was time to press on. The weather forecast was showing a storm coming over in two days. If we’d want a chance to sail, we should be in the lee of the Swedish south coast by then. We went to the fuel dock at 10:14 after breakfast and some discussions. Karin and Daniel left the boat at this stage for their own adventures, so from now on, it’d be just the two of us. We filled up 40l at the gas station. Having learned the lesson, we hoisted sails inside the harbour at 10:41. Then out on an easterly course to get a tack avoiding the white cliffs of Königstuhl. At 11:50 we tacked north to 350 and enabled the tiller pilot. Now we’d start the 4h-on-4h-off watch system we use on passages.

Off-watch

At 13:05 we inspected a low voltage alarm from the tiller pilot. One unrelated issue found was that the cable connecting the starter battery to our battery isolator (and hence enabling charging of house batteries from the alternator) had become loose. Reconnected it and ran motor for a while to recharge. At 16:00 wind picked up to 15kt Crossing the main traffic lanes between Germany and Sweden went without a hitch. Having an AIS transponder was certainly a boon, as not only we could see all the traffic in our Navionics, they could also see us. We even saw a large cargo vessel make a course change to pass us more safely.

AIS traffic

Land ahoy! We sighted the Swedish coastline at 19:13. First came internet, and then the sight of land. By this time waves had reduced significantly, to maybe 0.4m height. At 22:20 we turned course to east and Simrishamn. As the wind was dying we shook out the first reef. Soon the autopilot would be unable to steer due to the low boat speed. We continued ghosting along the Swedish coast.

Night sailing

We took a tack north again at 6:40 to avoid the Traffic Separation Scheme in front of Bornholm.

By 11:15 the wind had died completely, so it was time to drop sail and motor towards Simrishamn. We arrived to the nearly-empty marina at 12:31 and tied up to one of the guest boxes. Harbour office wasn’t open off-season, so the payment was handled via a web form which sent us the PIN to access marina facilities.



From the logbook

Time Position Course Speed Log Weather Remarks
23.08. 9:14 Z n/a Left the box
23.08. 9:29 Z n/a Filled up 40l at the fuel dock, Suckows left the boat
23.08. 9:41 Z n/a 100° Sails up and motor out
23.08. 10:50 Z n/a 350° Tack to north and autopilot on
23.08. 11:44 Z n/a 352° Autopilot low battery alarm triggered and self-closed
23.08. 12:05 Z n/a 334° Alternator to starter battery cable was disconnected. Reconnect and ran motor 10min
23.08. 15:00 Z n/a Wind picking up to 15kt
23.08. 18:13 Z n/a Land ahoy! First came Internet, then Suski sighted Sweden
23.08. 18:30 Z n/a Significantly smaller waves, maybe 0.4m
23.08. 21:20 Z n/a 106° Autopilot unable to steer due to low speed, shook out reef
24.08. 5:40 Z n/a 335° Tack before TSS Bornholm, Swedish courtesy flag up
24.08. 10:50 Z n/a Wind died. Sails down and motor on
24.08. 11:31 Z n/a Arrived Simrishamn. Box 121. 290SEK paid online